BERKELEY — A West Berkeley clean-air watchdog group wants Pacific Steel to use recent fines levied by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for air testing and community education about the plants’ potential health and environmental risks.

Last month, the air district and Pacific Steel, a family-owned business in West Berkeley for 75 years, reached a legal settlement that requires the plant to install a $2 million system to reduce odor emissions.

Pacific Steel also must pay $17,500 in penalties because of nine notices of violations from the air district.

The recent legal settlement followed at least two decades of complaints from residents and businesspeople about the smell of burning plastic in the air, headaches, nausea and a tightness in their chests because of the odor.

But now, the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, a grass-roots group, says the agreement does not go far enough. Alliance members say the factory’s emissions are not just an odor problem but also a threat to public health.

The group wants lower permitted odorous and odorless emissions and a more permanent solution to the problem by eliminating toxic emissions, said alliance member Janice Schroeder.

To pull in support, the alliance will hold a community meeting tonight to discuss what it calls the “ongoing air hazard and odor nuisance caused by Pacific Steel Casting Company.”

Representatives from the air district, Pacific Steel and City Councilmember Linda Maio’s office are expected to attend.

Pacific Steel Casting, with headquarters at 1333 Second St., has two other plants nearby. The company believes the source of the odors is Plant 3, “which has been operating with greater frequency this year to meet the rising demand for high-quality steel castings,” according to a recent news release.

To control the odor, the company will install a carbon absorption system in Plant 3. The company installed similar carbon filters in Plants 1 and 2 in 1991 and 1985, respectively, reducing odor complaints significantly. The alliance wants to ensure all plants have technology for controlling — or eliminating — emissions and odors.

The community meeting is at 7 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth St.

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